EVE Online player loses USD 19,000 in shady virtual currency deal
by James Egan 
Dec 30th 2008 at 6:00PM
Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Business models, Economy, Events, real-world, Forums, MMO industry, News items, Legal
The sci-fi game EVE Online is set apart from many other massively multiplayer online games by its economy. While there are currently problems with the game's market due to a serious exploit, the economy isn't getting reset anytime soon. The currency of EVE's virtual economy is the Inter Stellar Kredit (ISK). As in the real world, money can be power in EVE's 'New Eden' galaxy. Most online games built around a virtual economy will ultimately need to deal with the real money trading (RMT) issue -- either make it a bannable offense or support and regulate it in some way. CCP Games figured if RMT is happening whether they want it to or not, they may as well have some way to regulate it.
EVE Online has a few legitimate ways to bring real world money into the game. Game Time Cards (EVE Time Codes) can be converted to ISK without risk of getting your teeth banhammered in by CCP Games. They offer a secure way to sell game time to players where neither party can be scammed, and more recently a way to turn game time into an item (PLEX) that can be sold on the open market in-game. When a player buys that item, he or she extends their account subscription. The upside for some players is that they can actually pay their subscription fees in the ISK they've earned in-game, for others it enables them to buy a faction battleship or a number of other virtual items.
But... some people just go too far with all this, and buy ISK in huge amounts. Even worse is doing so outside of the EULA-safe methods. This was the case with an EVE player in Denmark, who paid 100,000 Danish Krones (the rough equivalent of 13,500 Euros or USD 19,000) for currency from a shady ISK seller outside of the secure system, and was ultimately left with empty pockets, even after the case ended up in court.
The case is mentioned on the blog of a player named Wotlankor and on the EVE forums as well, which has an (unofficial) English translation of the Danish court's decision on the matter. The case specifically focuses on payment agreements between VISA, PayPal, and an ISK selling company. There are many things that could be said about the questionable logic of dropping close to twenty grand on virtual currency that holds no legitimate value outside of a computer game. But among the commentary from EVE's players themselves on shady ISK deals, perhaps Abrazzar sums it up best: "Buying ISK is like picking up the soap and hoping no one notices." Not the loveliest of sentiments, but the analogy is dead on.
[Via Wotlankor]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Anonymous said on 6:38PM 12-30-2008
Almost 20k on in-game money? Is that guy insane? I think I'd rather buy a car, or a really top-end PC, instead of INGAME CURRENCY. Did that guy escape from a mental institution and his parents died, leaving him all their riches?
Wow...The carelessness some people make with their money. I'm sure if he was willing to spend that much on in-game currency, he has a lot more money hidden somewhere, either that, or he's saved all his life.
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Brendan Drain said on 7:31PM 12-30-2008
The weird part is.. what would you even DO with all that ISK? That's several hundred billion's worth, you can't possibly need that for anything.
Curious George said on 6:43PM 12-30-2008
I have little sympathy for the "victim" here. The safe method is well documented in Eve and as the old saying goes, "A fool and his money are soon parted".
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Havohej said on 6:48PM 12-30-2008
First I ROFL'd. Then, I thought about the legal precedent that it sets and hope that when cases like this are inevitably brought to trial in the US, this example might serve as a guide. Good for CCP!
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Jack said on 8:31PM 12-30-2008
Man this just shows that EVE players really love there game :P
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Ian said on 9:33AM 12-31-2008
Yes, Eve players do love THEIR game.
Eve players, of all people, should have a keenly-developed scam-radar.
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Burlingk said on 9:27PM 12-30-2008
If he had stopped to think about it before going to court though, he might have gotten his money back.
The article shows no indication so far that he approached Paypal about the issue, or that he took the ISK dealer to court. He may do one of these things, but at this point he has spent so much time in the pointless lawsuits that he has weakened his case for the real thing.
He needed to start the charge-back with Paypal, not his bank. I am guessing that he either did not read the information that Paypal provides to new users, or he doesn't actually have a Paypal account and that is just who the company used as a credit card processor. Either way, he should have started with Paypal, not his bank.
His bank was not a part of the actual transaction in question. All one has to do to understand the scenario is to take a look at your Paypal statement after you make a direct quickwithdrawl payment. It shows as two transactions, one with the bank, and one with the merchant. ^^ THAT is what ultimately lost him the court case.
If he had gone to Paypal to begin with, they would have started an investigation promptly, and even if it did not end the way he wanted and he took it to court, he would be dealing with the right agencies.
In my opinion, the only people at fault here are him and the ISK dealer. The banks are just stuck in the middle.
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W. Graves said on 8:21AM 12-31-2008
Thats over a hundred years of playtime 0.o
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Arkanaloth said on 9:10AM 12-31-2008
a fool and his money...
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random eve guy said on 5:16PM 1-09-2009
The pirates of eve would have had a field day if that noob actually got his isk
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CCP = Company Concerned with PROFIT said on 5:40PM 3-10-2009
Let's not pretend CCP is some old grandmother that got beat up for her purse. They make their money by getting kids addicted to wasting their life away in front of their computer.
It's all about the money - never forget that.
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